We met my father-in-law in the Chengdu airport and flew together into Lhasa. After a 3 hour delay, we arrived at 12,000 feet elevation! Our guide welcomed us with white scarves and we drove through an incredible double rainbow to our hotel closer to the city center. That evening we enjoyed cheese momos (!!!!) and went to bed to get some rest for busy days ahead.
We spent our first day of the tour in Lhasa visiting a few major sites. We started with the Potala Palace. It is a beautiful monastery built over centuries sitting on a hillside overlooking the city where the Dalai Lama once lived. We had one hour to walk through 24 chambers. Pictures were not allowed inside, but we admired the wall murals, many statues of Buddha and watched the monks sitting in each chamber. Many people come here as a pilgrimage and leave offerings as they wander through.
After the palace, we went to the market place where we visited another monastery. This monastery holds an ancient statue of Buddha that was brought as a gift from a Chinese princess who married the Tibetan King. The statue was protected here during the Culture Revolution. As we drove through Tibet, we saw the remnants of many monasteries that were destroyed during the Culture Revolution in 1959, but we also heard of many clever ways that relics were protected. Politics are not an encouraged topic of conversation in Tibet, as you never know who is listening. But when you read between the lines, there is a lot you can learn.
We visited a third monastery during our first day. But the highlight if this was not statue of Buddha, instead it was debating monks- something I never thought I'd see. Buddhist monks complete various studies and are given an oral examination twice a year. These afternoon debates that we saw give them the chance to practice. It is not just religious questions, but anything. Our guide gave the example question of "what is big?" This could be debated all afternoon. We saw monks in groups of three, sitting in a courtyard. One stood, asking questions, the other two sat, answering and defending. They questioner clapped his hands a specific way when he approved if an answer. It was a lively experience that I enjoyed watching.
Over the next several days our group of ten drove hundreds of kilometers, many hours and frequent toilet stops (without toilets) admiring the Tibetan landscape. The first long drive was made longer because the road was closed temporarily due to snow. We finally, made our way over the snowy pass and came to a turquoise lake. It was truly beautiful and understandable why it is a holy lake to the Tibetans. Along mountain sides and often at the top of passes are thousands of prayer flags. They are colorful and beautiful piece against the landscape. I never got tired of seeing those.
We continued to drive long days until we reached what I considered the pinnacle (literally and figuratively) of our trip: the Himalayas. We came around a bend and there they were. Mt. Everest was hidden behind clouds, but others were more visible, so we took our "picture moment" before heading down 72km of dirt road to the Everest base camp. That was a long 72km.
As we drove up this road (we eventually got to 17,400 ft elevation) we drove through some villages and past shepherds and yak. The further in we drove, the more traditionally dressed the people were. They wore coral and turquoise jewelry which comes from the mountains being pushed up from sea level over millions of years. At times, I would look out and think how do people choose to live in an environment that seems cold and harsh. I think they were overcome by the beauty and couldn't leave, so they just make themselves survive.
At 17,000 feet we stopped at a hotel, which was a large tent that had cushioned benches along the perimeter where we all slept together. I think if a tent has a rug it qualifies as glamping, I don't know if others agree. After lunch in our tent hotel, we drove 400 more feet up to the real base camp. It is not climbing season, so we did not see tent city. Mt. Everest was hidden the whole time. But we did see someone get in trouble with the Chinese army (who controls the area and who we were never allowed to photograph), so that was exciting.
The native name is Mt.Qomlangma. Here's our proof we were here. We joke that Matt's dad is our professional photographer traveling with us, so he has the real proof we were there.
From our own tent, we eventually got a glimpse of Everest's peak. Truly breathtaking, even without seeing the whole mountain.
In the morning, we had Everest Pancakes before driving back down the dirt road. Another long day of driving brought us to the border town between Tibet and Nepal. As we drove, there was a drastic change in landscape. It was green, fertile and waterfalls were all over the steep cliffs that we wound down.
Along the road, there are some interesting "safety" measures. Recently there have been many bus accidents, so now buses with more than 22 seats have to have a police officer on board. So, we had a police officer. We also had various checkpoints, sometimes showing our passports. At times, the checkpoints were intended to monitor speed, giving you a time limit to get from one checkpoint to the next. It was an interesting tactic to enforce speed limits. At times you would see tour buses pulled to the side if the road just before the next checkpoint...
On our last morning we went through border control and walked across the bridge to Nepal! We went through immigration (totally different from the Chinese side) hired a jeep and continued along the bumpy road to Kathmandu!
I am truly grateful I got to see the land and people of Tibet. They demonstrate survival in a whole new way, something I hope I never forget and a reminder to not take things for granted.
